The Midnight Goddess
by Ceridwen Lucius
Summary: Long ago as a small child after the loss of his parents, Sirius had prayed for someone to come to him, to comfort him and watch over him. She had answered that call. The goddess meant to bring him solace had lost her heart to him. After many years, she would reveal herself to him again in hopes of capturing his heart as well.
Sirius strolled through his rose garden searching for inspiration. Words tumbled through his head, but none of them connected to form something elegant and beautiful. He reached out to one of the black roses that had just bloomed. Dew glistened on its petals in the moonlight like precious gems.

"Adorned in the jewels offered by nature," he murmured, touching one of the pearlescent droplets with the tip of his finger. The cool wetness clung to his skin. He stroked the dark velvety petal. _Noctis Pulchra,_ the Latin term for the flower, meaning beautiful night. Most people believed that black roses symbolized death or mourning. To him their gorgeous ebony blooms signified the birth of something unusual, above and beyond the always pretty but disturbingly mundane colors of red, white, and yellow that dominated his extensive rose garden. The roses engulfed in permanent shadow represented a misunderstood beauty, a tragic reminder that everything is not always what it seems to upon first glance.

Sirius slid his fingers down the flexible green stem to caress one of the verdigris leaves with the unique and harmless serrated edges. These roses were also uncommon in that there were no thorns on which to prick ones fingers. He expertly snapped the stem in two, freeing the rose from its tether to the earth. Unfortunately, by picking it, he had also killed it. Now the flower was doomed to die a slow death in his hand, to wilt away while he savored its delicate, sweet and spicy scent akin to the aroma of a typical rose mixed with anise and ginger.

"So sad," he whispered, closing his eyes to inhale its perfume. The soft petals brushed the tip of his nose, tickling it lightly. "But your death will not be in vain. I will selfishly gorge my eyes on your beauty and my nose on your lovely fragrance until your exquisiteness fades away."

Sirius, too enraptured with the intoxicating _Noctis Pulchra,_ remained blissfully unaware that he was being watched. There was another being out for a stroll in the ruins of the temple and its grounds that he had transformed into his personal haven, an area of serene beauty, for his own pleasure. However, this entity existed long before him and his roses. By rights, this place belonged to her because the temple had been built for her well over 12,000 years ago, long before the battle that separated Shadow Angels and humans. She emerged from the darkness close to him on noiseless bare feet. The diaphanous white gown she wore fluttered around her ankles as she walked. The material light as a spider's web split into two strips at her waist to cover her breasts and tied around her neck. Her black hair that was like a part of the night sky complete with sparkling decorations scattered across its black expanse like stars streamed down her shoulders, across her breasts, and down to her waist. Her eyes were the same color as the midnight rose he held in his hand. In contrast to the darkness of the rest of her appearance, her bared skin was as pale as the moon, white as the snowy roses growing around the remains of the altar where humans had offered sacrifices to her.

She had been watching him for quite a while. For years she had observed the brooding blond god on earth stride through his garden, caressing the roses like a lover, spouting alluring words as their comeliness inspired him. Unbeknownst to him, she had heard every poem, every single enraptured word he had spoken. She had breathlessly listened to each syllable of prose he had recited into the lonely night air believing no one could hear them but himself. Many nights she had wanted to go to him, to touch him, to kiss him, to make love to him. He had captured her heart with those dainty words spoken from arrogant lips. Actually, she had loved him for a longer time than he would ever know. He had summoned her here years ago as a child, but had forgotten about her. When he had abandoned her, ignoring her existence, it had nearly shattered her heart. Yet all these years she had stubbornly remained close to him. At first she had told herself that she was following through out of a high sense of duty. He had been an innocent child who had prayed for someone to watch over him after all. However, that was a lie told to bring solace to her aching heart. She stayed to be near him, choosing to keep hidden in the garden, observing him the shadows while watching him grow into a handsome man graceful in body and words.

"Sirius," she called out. She knew his name well. Speaking it aloud made her lips tingle. It had been spoken many times by that wretched, annoying sister of his when she had come to fetch him. That little twit had often interrupted his late night wanderings and musings, cutting them short to lead him away. The urge to kill that exasperating woman had been strong though she flatly refused the passionate impulse. He loved his sister, therefore, she would not hurt her for his sake.

Sirius gasped loudly, his blond head jerking upward from being tilted to smell the rose. He did not immediately turn around. Remaining still with a stiff back, he listened to all of the muted noises in the darkness. Unsure if he had heard an actual voice or the calling out of the muse within his heart, he waited to hear the sound again.

"Sirius."

This time, he whirled around to face her. Poised to attack, ready to strike if threatened, his handsome face contorted into a mask of anger.

"I mean you no harm, Prince Sirius de Alisia," she greeted him, curtsying politely.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" he demanded like an angry, spoiled child. "You are trespassing on royal lands."

"I mean you no harm. It is you who is trespassing, my Prince," she corrected him, leveling her eyes on his thin face with the pointed chin. His forehead crinkled over the top of his nose. His gorgeous sky blue eyes glared at her exuding fire and ice. So spirited. "I am the Goddess who once inhabited this temple that was built millennia ago. I am no stranger to you. I was the one who comforted you when you were a child, a mere sprig of a human being. I cradled your head in my lap when you were weary. I held your hand when you were frightened. I wiped away your tears when you cried."

"Semira," he breathed, his eyes widening in surprise.

"You remember me?" She had come to him every time he needed her those many years ago. Sadly, he outgrew the one he mistakenly believed to be an imaginary friend. He had wandered through the garden then just as he did now on nights when sleep eluded him. Semira, meaning nighttime companion, had been the name he had given her and the name she had chosen to keep.

"As a child, after my parents died, I would seek refuge here sometimes. I remember praying for a companion, someone to hold me when I cried, but I thought..." He paused, breaking contact from her intensely dark eyes that pierced his soul making him feel exposed, completely bare, before her. "I thought you had been a dream. A figment of my imagination."

"I have always been with you. I never left you," she paused, lowering her eyes to the ground. "Despite the fact that you left me."

"I'm sorry," he apologized, stepping closer to her. He raised his hand, then stopped, lowering it back to his side. He was not sure if it would be permissible to touch a goddess. "I was only a child. Everyone told me that you were not real."

"What did your heart tell you?" she asked, pressing her hand to his chest over his heart. A smile stretched her lips upon feeling the light thumping of the organ attributed with holding emotion under her palm. Her eyes connected with his, searching their crystal blue depths for an answer.

"That you were as real as any of those people telling me that you only existed in my mind," he replied in a breathy voice. "Can I touch you?"

"Of course," she answered, hoping that he would touch her. As if to further demonstrate her acceptance of him, she reached up with her other hand to push back a stray part of his long bangs that had been blown across his nose by the temperate breeze.

Cautiously, acting as if he might get zapped by lightning from the heavens in retribution, Sirius raised his hands to cup her face with his palms. His eyes studied every inch of her flawless skin that glowed a silvery blue color like the full moon above them. Growing bold, seduced by her beauty, his thumb glided across her bottom lip that was the color of the vermilion rosebuds set to bloom soon.

"You are the best parts of all my lovely roses combined into one resplendent creature. A walking, talking testament to everything I hold dear," he whispered, his eyes skirting the entirety of her perfect oval face. His eyelids lowered, preparing to close while his mouth hovered over hers. "Of everything I love."

"Then love me," she implored him, placing her hand on the back of his neck to gently pull his mouth to hers.

"Sirius!" Silvia's voice rang out across the garden in that ear splitting high pitch raised by her agonizing desperation to find her brother.

"No, don't go," he begged as the woman in his arms dematerialized into a wisp of black smoke to be whisked away by the next light gust of air. "Wait!"

"Sirius? Who were you talking to?" Silvia asked, appearing at the end of the tall hedge-like row of red rose bushes on his other side that had shielded him from her sight.

"No one," he grumpily responded, annoyed by her intrusion and her endlessly tiring possessiveness.

"It sounded like you were talking to someone," she insisted, running to him to throw her arms around his waist. "I was worried when I couldn't find you in your room."

"What were you doing in my room in the middle of the night?" he questioned her, raising a disapproving golden blond eyebrow. He peeled her arms from around his torso pushing her back slightly. He was in no mood to be groped.

"I-I, uh, um..." She visibly vacillated, twiddling her thumbs and shifting from foot to foot, trying to find a proper excuse. Her cheeks turned red with embarrassment.

Sirius groaned and rolled his eyes. He had lived this scenario so many times it was beginning to make him physically ill each time it repeated.

"I knew you had been having trouble sleeping so I went to check on you," she squeaked citing her usual contrived reason.

"I always have trouble sleeping. I've been an insomniac for years. It's the price to pay for having a creative mind," he muttered, turning his back to her before walking away in the opposite direction. It would take him longer to get back to his room. He needed to walk off his irritation anyway. Sleep would not be coming to him any time soon.

"Brother!" she cried, running after him.

"Silvia, go away!" he yelled without turning around. "I need to think."

"Oh, okay," she whimpered, her voice breaking as tears constricted her throat.

Sirius pressed his fingertips into his temple to massage away the headache that started to throb there. He walked until he had put quite a bit of distance between himself and his sister. Coming to the furthest boundary of the garden, he had no choice but to stop. The wild roses grew here. Their vines had intertwined and grown between the trees creating a natural living border between the garden and the land beyond. He sighed loudly feeling the weight of the disappoint pressing down on him heavily. Opening his hands in front of his face, he stared at his palms. These hands had touched the face of a goddess. He had held the epitome of love and beauty in hands, but she had gotten away from him. Closing his eyes, he turned his face up to the night sky to pray, hoping with everything inside of him that the goddess could hear him.

"Please, please, come back to me. I need you."


End file.
